View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Bath Research Portal Citation for published version: Vinther, J, Stein, M, Longrich, NR & Harper, DAT 2014, 'A suspension-feeding anomalocarid from the Early Cambrian', Nature, vol. 507, no. 7493, pp. 496-499. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13010 DOI: 10.1038/nature13010 Publication date: 2014 Document Version Peer reviewed version Link to publication University of Bath General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 13. May. 2019 1 An Early Cambrian filter feeding 2 anomalocarid 3 4 Jakob Vinther1, Martin Stein2, Nicholas R. Longrich3 & David A. T. Harper4 5 6 1Schools of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol 7 BS8 1UG, United Kingdom. 2Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen University, 8 Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. 3Department of Biology and Biochemistry, 9 University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom. 4Department of Earth Sciences, Durham 10 University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom. 11 12 13 Large, actively swimming filter feeders evolved several times in Earth’s 14 history, arising independently from groups as diverse as sharks, rays, 15 teleost fishes1, and in mysticete whales2. Animals occupying this niche have 16 not, however, been identified from the Early Palaeozoic. Anomalocarids, a 17 group of stem arthropods that were the largest nektonic animals of the 18 Cambrian and Ordovician, are generally thought to have been apex 19 predators3-5. Here we describe new material of Tamisiocaris borealis6, an 20 anomalocarid from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet Fauna of North 21 Greenland, and show that its frontal appendage is specialized for filter 22 feeding. The appendage bears long, slender and equally spaced ventral 23 spines furnished with dense rows of long and fine auxiliary spines. This 24 suggests that it was a microphagous filter feeder, using its appendages for 25 sweep-net capture of food items down to 0.5 mm, within the size range of 26 mesozooplankton such as copepods. Tamisiocaris demonstrates that large, 27 nektonic filter feeders first evolved during the Cambrian Explosion, as part 28 of the adaptive radiation of anomalocarids. The presence of filter-feeders 29 in the Early Cambrian, together with evidence for a diverse pelagic 30 community containing phytoplankton7,8 and mesozooplankton7,9,10, 31 indicates the existence of a complex pelagic ecosystem supported by high 32 primary productivity and nutrient flux11,12. Cambrian pelagic ecosystems 33 appear to have been more modern than previously believed, suggesting 34 that the Cambrian explosion drove not only the origin of modern animal 35 phyla but also modern marine food webs. 36 37 Anomalocarids are stem arthropods well known from the Cambrian and 38 Ordovician13-16, and were the largest animals of their time. They are interpreted 39 as nektonic apex predators, using their lateral flaps to swim in pursuit of prey, 40 then seizing it with their raptorial frontal appendages3,16-18. Recent discoveries 41 have revealed a range of appendage morphologies14,17, suggesting diverse 42 feeding strategies, but the anomalocarids are not known to have exploited 1 plankton for food, which is a common nektonic strategy in modern oceans. In 2 fact, the first definitive evidence for large nektonic filter-feeders is from the 3 Mesozoic, when it evolved in the giant pachycormid fishes1,19 from the Jurassic 4 and Cretaceous, although there is some evidence to suggest that placoderm fish 5 may have exploited this niche in the Late Devonian19. Large nektonic filter 6 feeders are, however, unknown from the Early Palaeozoic. 7 Tamisiocaris borealis, from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fauna of 8 North Greenland, has previously been described as a possible anomalocarid on 9 the basis of a disarticulated frontal appendage6. New fossils not only substantiate 10 the anomalocarid affinities of Tamisiocaris, but also show that it was adapted to 11 prey microphagously on mesozooplankton. 12 Tamisiocaris borealis is known from six isolated frontal appendages and 13 two appendages associated with a head shield. Frontal appendages (Fig. 1) 14 measure ≥ 120 mm in length, comparable in size to the later Anomalocaris 15 canadensis13. As in other anomalocarids, the appendage consists of discrete, 16 sclerotized articles. All specimens are preserved with the ventral spines parallel 17 to the bedding plane, and the articles show no evidence of distortion due to 18 compaction. It is therefore assumed that the articles were transversely 19 compressed, with an oval cross section in life. The appendage consists of at least 20 18 articles, versus 14 in, for example, A. canadensis. Articles are separated by 21 triangular arthrodial membranes (Extended Fig. 2b,c). These extend almost to 22 the dorsal margin of the appendage; ventrally, the membrane is 33-50% the 23 length of the articles, suggesting a well-developed flexural ability. 24 The appendage curves downward distally, with the strongest curvature 25 around the second and third article. The first article is straight, and longer than 1 the next three combined. It bears a single pair of ventral spines near its distal 2 margin, which are stout and angled backwards (Fig. 1a) as in Anomalocaris 3 briggsi5. The next 17 articles each bear pairs of long and delicate ventral spines 4 inserted at the mid-length of the article. These are evenly spaced along the 5 appendage about 5-6 mm apart. The spines diverge ventrally such that each pair 6 forms an inverted V-shape. Unlike A. canadensis, in which longer and shorter 7 spines alternate and taper distally, the ventral spines are all of similar length, 8 measuring 26-27.5 mm along the full length of the appendage (fig. 1a,b, Extended 9 data Fig. 1-3). A similar condition is seen in A. briggsi. The ventral spines curve 10 posteriorly, again as in A. briggsi, but unlike any other anomalocarids. Individual 11 spines appear flattened, with a median rod and thinner lamellar margins 12 (Extended data Fig. 1c). In addition, ventral spines are frequently kinked, and 13 sometimes broken, suggesting that they were weakly sclerotized and flexible. 14 As in many other anomalocarids5,14, the anterior and posterior margins of 15 the ventral spines bear auxiliary spines (Fig. 1c, Extended data Fig. 1c, 2d, 3), but 16 they are unusually long in Tamisiocaris —measuring 4.2-5.0 mm in length— and 17 extremely slender. Auxiliary spines form a comblike array, being spaced 0.3-.85 18 mm apart, with a median spacing of 0.49 mm. The length and spacing are such 19 that adjacent spine combs would overlap or interdigitate. 20 One specimen consists of two associated appendages in subparallel 21 orientation (Extended data Fig. 4). Proximally, they join a large, elliptical head 22 shield. The headshield is larger than in Anomalocaris canadensis, but is not 23 enlarged to the same degree as seen in Peytoia nathorsti and Hurdia victoria. 24 25 The affinities of Tamisiocaris were examined in a cladistics analysis to 1 explore its position within the anomalocarids. The analysis recovers a clade 2 consisting of Tamisiocaris borealis and Anomalocaris briggsi (Fig. 4). This clade, 3 the Cetiocarididae (n. nom), is diagnosed by long, slender, and recurved ventral 4 spines, and the presence of numerous auxiliary spines. Tamisiocaris is more 5 specialized, however, in having flexible ventral spines and densely packed 6 auxiliary spines. The cetiocaridids are a sister to the Hurdiidae, a clade 7 containing Hurdia victoria, Peytoia nathorsti, and related species. Outside these 8 taxa lies a clade of presumably plesiomorphic forms including Anomalocaris 9 canadensis, A. saron, Amplectobelua spp., and relatives. 10 The hypothesis that Tamisiocaris borealis engaged in filter feeding can be 11 tested by comparisons with extant analogues (Extended data Figure 5). 12 Suspension feeding crustaceans, such a cirripedes (barnacles), atyid shrimp, 13 copepods, cladocerans, mysids and euphausiaceans (krill) share a suite of 14 adaptations for sieving particles out of the water column which are very similar 15 to the appendages in the cetiocarididae (Extended data figure 5). These include 16 appendages with (i) very elongate, flexible setae and/or setules and (ii) regular 17 spacing. These features create a net with a regular mesh size that efficiently traps 18 all particles above a threshold set by the appendage spacing. The feeding limbs 19 sieve particles out of the water, concentrate them by contraction, and carry them 20 to the mouth20. The filter feeding apparatuses of vertebrates have a similar 21 morphology. Filter-feeding teleosts and some sharks use a mesh formed by long, 22 slender, and closely spaced gill rakers. The feeding apparatus of mysticete 23 whales consists of arrays of baleen plates that wear into elongate fringes21. 24 The mesh size of the capture apparatus is closely related to prey size: 25 Right whales specialise on small copepods (fringe diameter 0.2 mm) while blue 1 whales (fringe diameter 1 mm), feed on larger krill22. A survey of diverse 2 suspension feeders, from cladocerans to blue whales, shows a linear relationship 3 between mesh size and minimum prey size (Fig. 4). While larger prey can be 4 captured, the bulk of the prey is close to the mesh size of the filter apparatus. 5 Based on the morphologies seen in modern animals, a filter-feeding 6 anomalocarid would be predicted to have evolved a setal mesh, with large 7 appendages bearing long, flexible setae to increase capture area, with regular 8 setal spacing.